Lviyr leaned toward me. "I think there's a glitch."

"Oh yeah? What kind?" I asked.

"Andrew's curse still hasn't expired... I'm pretty sure the maximum duration is shorter than a week."

"It's hard to say, but there's not really anything we can do to fix it right now." I offered apologetically.

"I know, but it would have been nice if it wore off before the start of the midgame."

The midgame is the point in time that the champions realize that all of their opponents are going to be strong, so they begin a sort of arms race to get better and better [Skills] before the late-game, which is when all of the champions become confident in their preparation and start to fight again.

There are sometimes champions who hunt each other during the midgame in an attempt to catch the others unawares, that tends to be when Vindicost reveals his champion's broken build of the round.

I can't wait to see what heinous garbage he's come up with this time.

"You've never been that lucky Lviyr."

He gestured agreement. "Indeed, but it is frustrating nonetheless."

"That's understandable."

"Then some of this! And This And this!" Seliel yelled from across the way.

"You're certainly getting back into her usual saddle quickly." Jyn mocked loudly.

"Shut up Jyn! Playing [Hazard Shaper] is good too!"

"And it's good that you're good at it considering how little you play the main game!"

The session's [Worldbinder] stood and pointed at Jyn. "Be nice or I'll remove your champion from the game."

The [Worldbinder] was an incredibly important role, which was to facilitate everyone else's fun.

I know there's a lot of jokes about being a 'Forever [Worldbinder]', but ours actually likes it better than playing the game itself, so none of us felt guilty.

Jyn immediately shut his enormous mouth and grumbled something under his breath.

I looked over at the now very smug Seliel and called out. "Hey Seliel, how's it going anyway?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She non-answered.

"Yes, I know that it can be frustrating to be stuck as a [Hazard Shaper] for such a long time, so I wanted to make sure you were still having a good time."

She stopped and looked up at me, and then at her viewer-neighbor.

The two talked for a moment and she seemed surprised with the answer. "I'm not sure I heard you right, did you ask me how I was doing?"

"Yes, is it strange to want to ask that of your friends?"

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

She leaned in incredulously. "We're friends? Since when?"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't pull on Lviyr's... um... facial structure? Either way, you don't bully him!"

I leaned my head back in annoyance. "Lviyr doesn't forget to explain the rules to the champions, or forget to throw away his thrash, or forget his communicator and ask me to help look for it."

Seliel looked like a wounded puppy after that onslaught, so I decided to pull it back some.

"Listen Seliel, what I'm trying to get at is that I'm trying to help you, if I didn't care, I wouldn't do these things. If I didn't care, I'd just tell you to figure it out yourself, like when Jyn asks me for rides because he ran out of hyperfuel."

"Chafe your meat Yuluulth." Jyn countered.

"You first Jyn." I replied.

Seliel seemed to not know what to do with this news, so was just left in thought.

I figured it was best to leave her be for now.

My champion had just gotten his six hundredth kill, and I wanted to see his face when he got his new [Slaughterer] title after all.

----------------------------------------

Andrew

I couldn't even tell how many days had passed since the attack, nobody kept any sort of calendar or anything, so I could only estimate... and I'm not even sure I even cared anymore.

Sydui, the villagers, and I all healed up nicely, and without any further attacks for some reason.

Hey, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

We had started daily training sessions with the atlatls, getting everyone as familiar as possible in the case of another attack.

I also started the villagers on making the wooden portions of a smaller crossbow for each of them as well, designed for their strength level.

Finally, we were going to build some effing walls and defense towers! Like, why wasn't this already done?!

I was off collecting wood for that particular errand.

Hund had begged me to take someone with me when venturing so far away from the village, but when I asked who of them could handle a champion I couldn't, he relented.

I was just walking along when I suddenly had the feeling that something was off, and stopped in place.

I inspected the path before me and saw silken threads.

Why did it have to be spiders?

At least let it be a sexy spider if it has to be a spider.

I considered my options, and figured trying to cut it instead of setting the forest on fire would be my best option.

I slashed at it with The Great Stabbinsky...

Hehe, that name is still hilarious.

I digress.

I slashed at the webs and continued carefully on my way, making sure not step on anything particularly sticky.

Yes, I made sure to look up, I've seen movies before.

I saw her looking at me from above... thank you movies.

I very nonchalantly pulled out my crossbow and shot a bolt at the spider lady.

Several of her limbs flew off, but she not only didn't seem to care, she smiled down at me.

Suddenly, a web stuck my satchel shut.

I took out The Great Stabbinsky to try to cut the webbing, but she was too fast, and already in my face.

What's worse is that those missing limbs were regenerating.

I always knew that my crossbow's weakness was a fast enemy, but knowing something and experiencing the panic it causes firsthand are a little different.

In my panic, I slashed at her with The Great Stabbinsky in an attempt to gain some distance.

She dodged my pitiful attempt and took the crossbow out of my hand, before she simply threw it to the side.

I reached for my saw which I usually keep hanging on the back of my pants.

She webbed my arm to my back and used my surprise as an opening to finally completely disarm me.

I didn't have any idea what to do as she webbed my other arm down and my legs together.

I was doomed.

I debated whether listening to Hund would have done any good and settled on 'no'.

I still felt like an idiot though.

It felt so unfair that I didn't have any sort of backup that I wouldn't have to worry about every ten seconds.

As mean as it sounded, I was significantly stronger and more capable than the villagers in a fight and having them around would be a surefire way to get them killed, especially against an enemy like this.

I just needed someone that could help me in situations like this.

I looked over at my knife.

If only I could reach out and grab it.

[Your 'Creative Spark' has been special-activated and caused your item to gain 'Limited Sapience'.]

What does that mean?

Suddenly, my knife was back in my hand and I heard a voice in my head.

'Did someone call upon The Great Stabbinsky?!'

I gripped the handle hard.

'Let's do this old friend!' I thought back.

I pretended to slip forward, and the spider lady caught me, opening her mouth to bite down into me.

I slashed open the webbing and caused a gash up the spider lady's body.

The physical wounds started to reknit, but the surprise gave me enough time to free my other arm and legs.

Before she could regain her footing, I lunged into the offensive.

I cut the gash back open over and over, getting a little farther each time.

I didn't stop until I cut her clean in half.

That is also when she disintegrated.

I rushed over to my crossbow to check the damage.

It seemed to be fine, so I reloaded it as fast as I could.

It didn't actually matter though, because she was the only one who was here.

I decided right then and there that wood was overrated for that day and headed back to the village.